Tag Archives: Mark Twain

In sauntered a tabby. I wondered if she had shrewdly sized me up as an animal lover or if she just assumed an air of chin-scratch entitlement with everyone.

I totally understand Twain's decision to dictate his story, mostly from his bed in the four years before his death at age 74. He argued that speaking his recollections and opinions, rather than writing them down, allowed him to adopt a more natural, colloquial and frank tone, and Twain scholars who have seen the manuscript agree.

When I planned my 2010 road trip, three destinations were set in stone, including Hannibal, Missouri, birthplace of America's best, brightest and most prescient social observer, Mark Twain.